Pony sophomores packing a punch on the mat

The stretch run is finally here for the Havre High wrestling team and with the final meet of the regular season set to take place Saturday in Malta, the Blue Ponies can start thinking about their two most important tournaments of the season, divisionals and state.

Havre will wrestle in the Malta Invitational Saturday, although some of the top wrestlers in the lineup will get a rest, such as senior Ryan Stewart. That will give some other young wrestlers a chance to prove themselves before the postseason roster is finalized next week.

"We aren't going to take everybody," HHS head coach Scott Filius said. "We are going to give a few guys some rest."

Yet, even without their full lineup, Havre should be highly competitive in the meet, which will feature a few teams from Class A, but mostly squads from the ranks of Class B-C. The tournament will also be the second event of the week for the second-ranked Ponies, who beat Glasgow 48-21 in a dual between the two schools Tuesday. .

While Havre, the five-time Class A state champions, isn't the overwhelming favorite to win state like like it has been in the past, the Ponies are still loaded and have a wrestler ranked in a majority of weight classes. In the most recent rankings, the Ponies have a total of nine wrestlers in the top six with two seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and one freshman.

Tyler Schaub (205) and Martin Wilkie (145) are both No.1 in their weight class, followed by Lane Paulson who is ranked third at 138. Ryan Stewart (120) and Austin Ratliff (HWT) are each ranked fourth. Those are the upperclassmen. Among the younger guys, there is one freshman, Mick Chagnon (4th, 103), then three sophomores, as Cameron Pleninger (2nd, 113), Connor Harris (3rd, 152) and Mason Dionne (4th, 160) are all contenders at their respective weights. Another standout is Quinn Reno, who won an individual state championship last season, as well as Mark Ramirez, who has been out with an injury. Both Reno and Ramirez have also been ranked for much of the season.

"It's good that we have those expectations on us," Harris said. "Our team has really been pushing the pace and grinding pretty hard."

All six sophomores wrestled at the state tournament in 2017 and each found some success. Reno and Pleninger wrestled each other for the 103-pound state championship, with Reno getting first and Pleninger finishing as the runner-up. Yet, they weren't the only two to find the podium at state, as Harris and Dionne each took third. Ramirez finished one win shy of the top six.

"Last year I came in thinking I was going to win a lot and a lot of the older kids kind of beat up on you," Dionne said. "We had Parker (Filius) and Jase (Stokes) to practice with and that helped a lot last year. So after going through that, I am a lot more confident this year."

Dionne has been coming on strong of late and performed well in Havre's two most challenging meets. At the Tri-State wrestling tournament in Coeur d'Alene, he finished seventh, then a couple weeks ago at the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic, he finished second. Harris has also been coming on strong, finishing third at the Jug Beck, before posting a 7-1 record at the Class A Duals last weekend in Lewistown, where Havre finished third.

Looking ahead, the entire sophomore class is going to have big aspirations at state and it goes beyond even team titles. Pleninger, Harris, Dionne and Reno are all legitimate title contenders and Ramirez can be, too, if he gets healthy.

"The two kids that are above me, I have had a couple of close matches with," Dionne said. "And they were always like two-point matches, but we have a plan for them, so I think we will get them."

Like Dionne, Harris said he feels prepared for the stretch run, thanks to a lot of dedicated work in the wrestling room.

"All the coaches have been helping us to build up to these moments," Harris said. "So we can have confidence and know how to execute in these close matches."

"I am looking forward to it," Dionne added. "I have been working really hard with coach Beau (LaSalle). We have been having a lot of fun practices and I am ready to get after it."

When Harris was asked if he was looking forward to divisionals and state, he responded: "Yes. I want to win a state championship."

In a couple of weeks, we will see if Harris, Dionne and the Ponies can do just that.